The objects of his multifarious crushes ranged from Katherine Hepburn to the cashier at the grocery store.

nadir

n. low point, perigee.

natty

adj. trimly neat and tidy, dapper.

My grandmother is always complaining that there are no more natty dressers; she just doesn't think that baggy jeans and sneakers can compete with the zoot suits of her adolescence.

neophyte

n. a recent convert; a beginner; a novice.

nexus

n. a connection, tie, or link; center or focus.

Although many people have studied the nexus between rehabilitation programs for prisoners and rates of recidivism, no one has been able to draw any universally accepted conclusions about the relationship.

nice

adj. exacting, extremely or even excessively precise; done with delicacy or skill.

The distinction he drew between the two findings was so nice that most of his listeners weren't even sure it was there.

noisome

adj. offensive, especially to one's sense of smell, fetid.

I don't know how anyone with a nose can live in an apartment that noisome.

nonplussed

adj. baffled, in a quandary, at a loss for what to say, do or think.

The movie left me a little nonplussed since I didn't understand the languages that either the movie or the subtitles were in.

nostrum

n. cure-all, placebo, questionable remedy.

Any nostrum that claims to cure both a hangover and bunions is either a miracle or a fraud.

noxious

adj. harmful, injurious.

obdurate

adj. unyielding, hardhearted, inflexible.

The villain's obdurate heart was unmoved by the plight of the villagers; he refused to show any compassion at all.

obfuscate

v. to deliberately obscure, to make confusing.

obsequious

adj. exhibiting a fawning attentiveness; subservient.

His obsequious fawing over Brandy made him seem more like her pet than her peer.

obstreperous

adj. noisy. loudly stubborn, boisterous.

That obsteperous two-year-old has the lungs of an opera singer.

obtain

v. to be established, accepted, or customary, prevail.

The proper conditions for the summit will only obtain if all parties agree to certain terms.

obtuse

adj. lacking sharpness of intellect, not clear or precise in thought or expression.

Her approach was so obtuse that it took me twenty minutes to figure out she was asking me out.

obviate

v. to anticipate and make unnecessary.

Finding my keys in my pocket obviated the need for the private investigators I just hired to locate them.

occlude

v. to obstruct or block.

The big bus that parked right in front of us occluded our view.

officious

meddlesome, pushy in offering one's services where they are unwanted.

onerous

adj. troubling, burdensome

Every spring I dread the onerous task of filing my income tax return.

opprobrium

n. disgrace, contempt, scorn.

The students couldnt' bear to face their teacher's opprobrium after they all failed the midterm exam.

ostensible

adj. seeming, appearing as such, professed.

Even though his ostensible reason for coming to all the games was his love of the sport, we knew his crush on the team captain was his real reason.

ostentatious

adj. characterized by or given to pretentiousness.

The ostentatious display of his diplomas on the front door of his office backfired whenever anyone noticed that the names of all the schools were spelled incorrectly.

overweening

adj. presemptuously arrogant, overbearing, immoderate.

His overweening arrogance made everyone want to smack him, which was the only way he got to be the center of attention that he imagined he should be.